The second reading this weekend seems very appropriate for us today, even though it was directed to a growing but fragile Christian community in Corinth more than 1900 years ago. At the time, St. Paul was addressing the cliques and divisions that were forming within the Church in that city. And the fact that they often worried more about their sports teams than their eternal salvation! Some believers were separating themselves according to who baptized and brought them into the Faith. It was turning into a competition, a pecking order according to which apostle people felt was most powerful, prestigious, or holy. Even though everyone belonged to one faith, in a short time, there were at least 4 rival groups. Understandably, he expresses outrage and disappointment over what was happening to their faith, how it was becoming a source of argument and division when it should have been a source of mutual strength, comfort, and unity.
Paul’s words remind me of one time (not the only time), as kids we did something really stupid. We got our grubby little hands on some old eggs and decided to throw them against our shed in the backyard. We had a great time and thought it was the funniest thing we had ever done. Mom and Dad disagreed. Before sending us out to clean up (and by the way, dried eggshells are like nature’s superglue) we received a well-deserved lecture from the parents. Of course it included a sprinkling of outrage and “how could you do something like this…” But what I remember clearly and what made a lasting impact was when my parents asked how we could have so little respect for something that was not only theirs but ours.
I hear that same question in Paul’s words today. This beautiful faith, the gospel, the Good News, Christianity doesn’t just belong to THE CHURCH or the Pope or bishops or priests: it belongs to each of us too. And while no one person owns our Catholic Faith or can take credit for it, we all have a share in it and should take pride in how we act as believers. These days, just like the days when Paul’s audience was working through their issues, it is easy to focus on the things that separate and divide us. Even when we are here in church, it is possible to compare ourselves to other people, other parishioners and try to rank ourselves. That’s how a parish gets divided between Democrats or Republicans, rich or poor, living in the neighborhood or commuting from further away, day-school or public school, new parishioners or been here forever—-you get the picture.
Something we see clearly in the gospels over and over again is how Jesus draws people together. In our passage from Matthew, we hear that he calls some of the apostles to follow him and, amazingly, they leave everything immediately and do it! We might think the apostles were this merry band of brothers with blissful, carefree lives, but they were from very different families and viewpoints. Even in the gospels we hear they fought, argued, and got jealous of each other. Only Jesus could have taken their diversity, their seemingly incompatible backgrounds and made it into something that was both enriching and unified. We see this pattern over and over again, not only in Scripture but also in history. When Christ is at the center of human lives and efforts, the resulting blessings never belong to or benefit one person or group. They end up enriching all people.
If we apply this pattern to our actions and the activity within the Incarnate Word family, it becomes easy to see where God can be found. His blessing will be on those ministries and groups that bring people together and lead them to focus on the One who unites all of us in the first place, Jesus Christ. On the other hand, if we find ourselves forming groups that isolate others or put people down, chances are, we are wandering into the same mess the Corinthians were.
One of the great paradoxes of Christianity is that because it is owned by no one person, it belongs to everyone. It’s ultimately not important who baptized us, what parish we grew up in, or which Catholic high school we graduated from; what matters most is that in all these things, Christ unites us. He is the common bond that brings together, in this active, busy parish, people of very different means, backgrounds, and viewpoints. Jesus is is our claim to fame, our source of pride. He brings unity to our diversity and enables our little gifts and efforts to have outsized effects. And when we encounter other Catholics, other Christians, from other parishes and other faith traditions, our mindset should not be one of competition or seeing who is better but rather how we can support each other and cooperate in spreading the Good News that Jesus offers. At the end of our life, God will not care what parish we belonged to, whether we went to the 7:15 or 6pm Mass, what neighborhood we lived in, or if our parish and professional sports teams were champions. He will want to know if we served him and introduced others to the love and truth Jesus Christ offers. It can be easy to lose perspective of what is truly important in life and in the Church, which doesn’t make us bad people but it does make us people in need of correction, just like the Corinthians.
To wrap up, I want to return to what I learned after egging the shed. Jesus didn’t have to share the Church with us. We certainly don’t deserve to help build it and represent it with our lives. In his generosity, he invites us to take ownership and to share in both the blessings and the responsibilities of caring for our Faith and helping it to spread. Let’s never forget the privilege we have been given and make sure our thoughts, words and actions always honor the great spiritual treasure he shares with us through our Catholic faith! It is not only his but ours.
